New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Universal Music Enterprises) "...an absorbing and beautifully made film..." - The New York Times
"...a fitting, sonorous tribute to the pop idol, movie producer, spiritual searcher and constant gardener." - Time Magazine
Martin Scorsese's GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, which premiered on HBO last October, makes its home video debut in North America. Universal
Music Enterprises is pleased to announce that it will be releasing the film on May 1, 2012, in three editions: 2-DVD set, Blu-ray, and a
Deluxe Edition that will include the DVD, Blu-ray, special packaging and a 96-page book of photography to accompany the film, plus the exclusive 10-track CD EARLY TAKES Volume 1, featuring previously unreleased music from
George Harrison.
EARLY TAKES Volume 1 will also be released independent of the
Deluxe Edition in CD, digital and 180-gram vinyl formats. EARLY TAKES is a pivotal companion piece to this critically acclaimed documentary and features previously unreleased recordings from Harrison. Included are rare, early takes of "I'd Have You Anytime" and "Awaiting On You All," plus unheard demo versions of "Behind That Locked Door," "All Things Must Pass," "Run of the Mill" and "My Sweet Lord," all later featured on Harrison's 1970 chart-topping album All Things Must Pass. Other unreleased tracks include demos of "The Light That Has Lighted the World," "Let It Be Me," Bob Dylan's "Mama You've Been on My Mind," and an early take of "Woman Don't You Cry For Me."
The film, GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, was produced by Scorsese (through his Sikelia Productions banner),
Olivia Harrison (through her Grove Street
Pictures banner) and Nigel Sinclair (through Exclusive's documentary label, Spitfire Pictures).
Margaret Bodde served as the film's executive producer and the film was edited by
David Tedeschi (who previously worked with Scorsese, Bodde and Sinclair on the Grammy® Award-winning NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN, and with Scorsese and Bodde on the Rolling Stones' concert film SHINE A LIGHT and the documentary PUBLIC SPEAKING). Earlier this year, the film was honored with the Critic's Choice Award for Best DocumentaryFeature and short-listed for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Documentary Film.
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD focuses the imaginative and inspired eye of one of cinema's most pre-eminent filmmakers on one of the world's most influential men. The film takes viewers on the musical and spiritual voyage that was Harrison's life, much of it told in his own words. The result is deeply moving and touches each viewer in unique and individual ways.
Academy Award-winning director
Martin Scorsese traces Harrison's life from his musical beginnings in Liverpool through his life as a musician, a seeker, a philanthropist, and filmmaker. Scorsese weaves together interviews with Harrison and his closest friends, performances, home movies, and photographs. Much of the material in the film has never been seen (or heard) before. The result is a rare glimpse into the mind and soul of one of the most talented artists of his generation and a profoundly intimate and affecting work of cinema.
The film includes interviews with Eric Clapton, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,
George Martin, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty, Phil Spector, Ringo Starr and Jackie Stewart. They speak honestly and frankly about George's many talents and contradictions.
Harrison was bold, an iconoclast. His platinum-selling solo record All Things MustPass was released as a triple album and featured the hit single "My Sweet Lord." He organized the landmark benefit Concert for Bangladesh -- the first major rock concert to address a world crisis. He launched HandMade Films, a key factor in the revival of the British film industry in the 1980s. He spent 30 years restoring one of the great estates and gardens in England, Friar Park. In every aspect of his professional, personal and spiritual life, until his final hours, Harrison blazed his own path.
As his friend
John Lennon once said, "George himself is no mystery. But the mystery inside
George is immense. It's watching him uncover it all little by little that's so damn interesting."
